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The Mothership Core is a flying support caster for the Protoss that can be built from the Nexus once the Cybernetics Core is finished. Its primary roles are base defence and army support.
Like the Mothership, the Mothership Core is a unique unit that a player can only have one of at any time. It can be upgraded to a Mothership once the Fleet Beacon has been built.

Time Warp gives Protoss more opportunity to attack and retreat from more mobile armies, like the Marauder's Concussive Shells ability. Previously Protoss did not have any straight forward abilities or spells to choose engagements beyond simple micro, but this and the Mothership Core's Mass Recall simplifies this task for Protoss in Heart of the Swarm.

In early game PvP, the ability to use Photon Overcharge on the defending player's Nexus effectively means that the defender's advantage now exists in the early game of this match-up, which wasn't the case in Wings of Liberty because of the ability for the attacking player to warp in units inside (or very close to) the defender's base through the use of Pylons. Additionally, in Heart of the Swarm, the defender's advantage provided by High Ground is partially negated by the attacker's own Mothership Core, since the unit can see up cliffs.

The Mothership Core is useful against Terran also in the early game and allows players to be much greedier, as Marine/SCV ground aggression and Widow Mine, Hellbat/Hellion or Marine/Marauder drops can both be defended quite well with the Photon Overcharge ability. Against drop play it is advisable to target the Medivac with the Nexus once Photon Overcharge is activated, as long as you have enough units to handle to units dropped, in order to prevent the Medivacs and their cargo getting away.

Against Zerg the Mothership Core can be effective in early game defense as all Zerg tier 1 units (Zerglings, Roaches and Banelings) cannot attack air, and so the Mothership Core can attack such units with impunity. Queens are effective against the Mothership Core however they are very unlikely and impractical to use in early game aggression.